I loved magic as a young boy and still do to this day. I never tried to do magic myself, but watching magicians inspired me in so many ways separate from the mental understanding of how each trick was executed. The focus and attention to detail needed to create a sense of magic and mystery, and the focus one needs to deliver this sense is masterful, but I always thought that by knowing how the tricks are executed would ruin the mystery and the thrill.
Once when I was ten years old I went to my best friend Donny’s birthday party. He had always been a bit of a troublemaker, and this day would mark his eleventh birthday, making him the oldest and biggest kid in the grade. He wasn’t a bully, but he definitely had his way with kids. He was a leader, but he wasn’t always fighting for the best causes. His big surprise was a magician, because like me he too enjoyed the excitement and spontaneity of a live magician. Whenever we’d go to see one or talk about them he would always try to guess what the magician was doing, but he could never really be sure. I would tell him how I felt about it all, and he would shrug me off. He thought it was pitiful how I could just watch and not want to know if it was indeed “magical.”
The party started around four, and Donny was already aware of the magician that would be coming to perform a little later. He was told of the magician when his parents woke him up that morning, and all day he was drawing up plans in his mind of how to expose the magicians tricks to the audience of children and adults. He would have to know if magic tricks were really magic tricks or just illusions. He thought that if he couldn’t walk away with an answer, he wouldn’t walk away with anything.
That night while we were huddled in a circle around the magician I sat there in awe, while Donny analyzed his every move, trying to crack the code to his suspected magical touch. At the finally the magician brought out a small table with a small box on top of it. The box was covered with a handkerchief and he removed it and showed everybody the empty contents of the box. He asked for a drum role from the audience, placed the handkerchief over the box, and started to spin the box around. Donny then yelled out, “Stop! Show us what is inside of that table?” The magician hesitated and let out a little awkward snicker. Donny had gone through the magician’s props while he was in the bathroom getting changed earlier that day, and he had discovered a trap door in the table, and a cage with a white albino rabbit inside. He had cracked the code and was about to ruin the magic for all of us! The magician finished his trick and exposed the rabbit in the box a top the table. The audience let out an “oooo” and Donny stormed off.
After the show he told every one of his findings earlier that day. It upset me momentarily, but most of the children were, at that moment, drawn in by the juicy gossip. From then on the magic wasn’t the same for me. Being exposed to that magicians trick injured the mysterious aspect of watching a master illusionist at work. I still enjoyed the mastery, but from then on every time I saw a similar trick I wasn’t left with that mysterious feeling. Donny later became a master magician and it was only fitting. He had cracked the codes to so many tricks that he had lost his belief in magic and instead became enthralled with the technical aspect in delivering jaw dropping tricks to thousands of people time and time again.
I loved magic as a young boy and still do to this day. I never tried to do magic myself, but watching magicians inspired me in so many ways separate from the mental understanding of how each trick was executed. The focus and attention to detail needed to create a sense of magic and mystery, and the focus one needs to deliver this sense is masterful, but I always thought that by knowing how the tricks are executed would ruin the mystery and the thrill.
Once when I was ten years old I went to my best friend Donny’s birthday party. He had always been a bit of a troublemaker, and this day would mark his eleventh birthday, making him the oldest and biggest kid in the grade. He wasn’t a bully, but he definitely had his way with kids. He was a leader, but he wasn’t always fighting for the best causes. His big surprise was a magician, because like me he too enjoyed the excitement and spontaneity of a live magician. Whenever we’d go to see one or talk about them he would always try to guess what the magician was doing, but he could never really be sure. I would tell him how I felt about it all, and he would shrug me off. He thought it was pitiful how I could just watch and not want to know if it was indeed “magical.”
The party started around four, and Donny was already aware of the magician that would be coming to perform a little later. He was told of the magician when his parents woke him up that morning, and all day he was drawing up plans in his mind of how to expose the magicians tricks to the audience of children and adults. He would have to know if magic tricks were really magic tricks or just illusions. He thought that if he couldn’t walk away with an answer, he wouldn’t walk away with anything.
That night while we were huddled in a circle around the magician I sat there in awe, while Donny analyzed his every move, trying to crack the code to his suspected magical touch. At the finally the magician brought out a small table with a small box on top of it. The box was covered with a handkerchief and he removed it and showed everybody the empty contents of the box. He asked for a drum role from the audience, placed the handkerchief over the box, and started to spin the box around. Donny then yelled out, “Stop! Show us what is inside of that table?” The magician hesitated and let out a little awkward snicker. Donny had gone through the magician’s props while he was in the bathroom getting changed earlier that day, and he had discovered a trap door in the table, and a cage with a white albino rabbit inside. He had cracked the code and was about to ruin the magic for all of us! The magician finished his trick and exposed the rabbit in the box a top the table. The audience let out an “oooo” and Donny stormed off.
After the show he told every one of his findings earlier that day. It upset me momentarily, but most of the children were, at that moment, drawn in by the juicy gossip. From then on the magic wasn’t the same for me. Being exposed to that magicians trick injured the mysterious aspect of watching a master illusionist at work. I still enjoyed the mastery, but from then on every time I saw a similar trick I wasn’t left with that mysterious feeling. Donny later became a master magician and it was only fitting. He had cracked the codes to so many tricks that he had lost his belief in magic and instead became enthralled with the technical aspect in delivering jaw dropping tricks to thousands of people time and time again.